ABSTRACT
All good social work is local. As a profession its origins lie in intensive face-to-face work in the tightly drawn urban slums of mid and late nineteenth century Britain when, through a variety of approaches and ideologies, the first systematic efforts were made to improve the level of well-being of the urban poor. This connection with neighbourhoods, particularly disadvantaged neighbourhoods, must remain a focus of work today. Without a commitment to acting as a major agent in the effort to establish higher levels of well-being in the communities and neighbourhoods of Britain, one of the main missions of social work dries up and loses its energy and vision. Only by working with people and the environment in which they live does social work roll back the effects of poverty, give voice to the voiceless and pursue that vision of social justice which forms its historic mission.
